1947 Bentley Special spotted in Siliguri

This is a discussion on 1947 Bentley Special spotted in Siliguri within Pre-War, part of the Vintage Cars & Classics in India category; Hi guys,
I had gone along with my brother to buy his new Swift Vxi yesterday and whilst my brother ...

I had gone along with my brother to buy his new Swift Vxi yesterday and whilst my brother was buried in a heap of paperwork, I was just loitering outside and see a small crown just at the gate of the Maruti showroom (Beekay Motors). I was wondering what was up and ventured out to see and wow - there is a vintage right there. Not knowing too much about the model myself, I just took out my phone cam and started clicking in a frenzy. Sorry folks, I did not carry my Canon yesterday, so the pictures really don't justify the beauty. The car was being driven by a British couple and they were part of the Himalayan Rally taking place in these parts. Incidentally, when I was going through the pre-delivery inspection, I saw a Mercedes convertible - a left hand drive - must have been part of the same rally.

When I saw the car, all I could make out was it was a Bentley and a beauty - I then asked the lady about the car and she said it was a 1947 Bentley - "Special" (She sure sounded a proud owner when she said Special) - I liked the spoked wheel the steering.

The car's fan was giving some problems and was whining like a huge turbine and that is why they had brought the car there.

The rally was reported in the local edition of The Telegraph . Here is the link

for some reason though, i find something amiss in the car...the lines are nowhere as gracefull as the others of the period....plus this design seems too old for 1947....perhaps its a rebodied car, or a one off design by an amateur coach builder from warley...

Quote:

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Very nice and unique find Johy. I tried to find more about this car on google but got no info. The closest I got to this masterpiece was this 1947 Bentley Special B173DZ

even if it were a genuine item, you'd never find the exact same car as each one was built to order...at the most, only the grille, bonnet and fenders would be common (not always)

I can tell you some more about the Bentley Special. It was indeed part of the Himalaya Rally, and so was I, my partner and our 8 year old son. There were 16 cars taking part and ours was a 1935 Rolls Royce 20/25 Sedanca De-Ville. We all travelled from Udaipur to KolKatta via Nepal and Bhutan. By the time we reached Siliguri, we were on our last few days of travel.

Our car was hit by a truck in Bhutan and the front and rear wings were damaged. We had the damage repaired in Bhutan, but the car was painted in Siliguri overnight at Rajender Automobile Work.

HI Pete, Welcome to the forum. Wow, being a part o f the Himalayan Rally must've been fun. Can we have you post some more pics o f the journey on the forum. I loved your website and the pic with your son (presumably) dozing off in the rear seat is priceless. MOre about any rare care taht took part with you?I can see a 67-68 Pagoda SL in one of the pics in the website. Were there any strange encounters or anything unusual during the journey?
And yes, where else but in India can you get a damaged, Vintage Rolls repaired and ready within a day?